iPhone Growth Explodes Outside the U.S.

The image of Apple’s marketplace being only within the shores of the United States appears as valid as Microsoft’s claims about Vista. The United States was tenth in the countries experiencing the most growth in demand for Apple’s handset, a new survey found Friday. Instead, Japan, France and Australia are Apple’s top three markets for its iPhone and iPod touch.

The Mobile Metrics report from AdMob said sales to Japan in 2009 grew 350 percent, while France saw a 300 percent jump with Australia close behind. The U.S. and Canadian markets showed more than 100 percent growth this year. Although U.S. growth lagged far behind the leaders, 50 percent of all iPhone and iPod touch users make the U.S. home, according to AdMob.

Overall, iPhone global sales rose by 150 percent during 2009.

The iPhone represented 38.3 percent of nearly 10 million requests to the AdMob network in November, a 6.2 percent increase over the previous month. The gains mostly were at the expense of Nokia, which saw a 3.3 percent drop in requests, reports said.

Although the report suggested little growth in the U.S., the iPhone has caught up with and passed Windows Mobile-based handsets, in terms of American users.

In an intriguing bit of back-room trivia, Admob was recently at the center of a growing competition between Apple and Internet giant Google. The Mountain View, Calif. company recently paid $750 million to acquire the mobile advertising firm after Apple had been in talks with AdMob execs about purchasing the company.